Hebrew Word Study – Sovereign Power – Malek  Mem Lamed Kap

Psalms 103:19:  The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His kingdom rules among all.

The first thing to note is that there is a definite article, the, before heaven as well as the preposition Beth for in or on and the word for heaven is also in a plural form.  This is grammatically rendered as the Lord established His throne in the heavens, not heaven the kingdom city that we all aspire to.  This always hit me as a bit strange as I was taught God is everywhere, omnipresent.

When I was a camp director at a camp for teenagers who had been in trouble with the law, I usually had charge of the daily chapel service.  One day I took the whole camp outside to the ball field where I had one of the campers, who had built a rocket in crafts, was ready to launch his creation.  I took a piece of paper and before the whole camp, I announced we were going to send a message to God.  In the note I wrote: “God, if you get this message please send a bolt of lightning to destroy the staff house.”  I placed it in the nose of the rocket and the camper launched it.  I then yelled for everyone to duck for cover as the staff house was going to blow up. 

No one ran and all looked at me like I was crazy.  I asked them why they did not believe God would answer the request.  They said that because for one thing, God had no reason to blow up the staff house and the other thing is that the rocket could not go high enough to reach Him.  I told them they were right on the first account.  God had no reason to blow up the staff house only that I asked Him to, but why should he respond to such a ridiculous request?  They were, however, wrong on the second account.  The height the rocket went to had nothing to do with reaching God because God is living right in their hearts.  Their hearts are His throne.  

Is God really sitting on a throne in some city out in space?  Perhaps, but we know He is omnipresent; He is everywhere at one time. Physicists with the Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland are now trying to prove that a particle can really exist in two places at the same time.  In theory, it is possible and now they have the equipment to prove it. If a particle can exist in two places at the same time if man is able to bend the time-space continuum to cause a particle to be in two places at the same time, why could not God do the same?

Yet, this verse suggests that God sits on a throne in the heavens.  What are the heavens?  The word is hashamiyim, the heavens and could mean just the sky above or the universe that we can see.  Do you really believe He has a throne up there somewhere?  Obviously, we are not talking about a literal chair. Does God get tired of standing?  Does he need a chair to rest on?  The word for throne that is used here in the Hebrew is kise’ which means a seat of honor and it also means authority and power.  It comes from the root word kacah.  It is the word used for a full moon. But it is actually a loan word from the Akkadian language for a headdress or cap. The Babylonians used the word for the crown worn by the moon god.  

It is interesting that Psalmist, who I believe is King David, uses an Akkadian word here.  I believe he is making an allusion to this Assyrian moon god Su’en.  This god is often pictured on Assyrian seals seated on a throne.  He was considered to be the lord of wisdom, father of the gods, and chief of the gods creator of all things.  The wisdom being like the wisdom of wise men, these were men who studied the stars, they were astrologers.  They felt the stars and planets could predict the future.  Thus, this god Su’en was all-knowing.  His wife was Ishtar and with her children formed a triad or a trinity centralizing the power of the universe.   Su’en is represented as an elderly man with a long beard sitting on a throne in the heavens.  

The Assyrians, Sumerians, and Babylonians all worship a similar triad from which they believed all creation was established and formed the centralization of the power of the universe.  I believe it is against these pagan beliefs that King David declares that our God Jehovah has established himself in the very place that David’s enemy, the Assyrians, searched for their gods.  

Note David is saying that Jehovah has established his kach his crown actually or his symbol of authority in the heavens, He is the one who rules the heavens, not the Assyrian god Su’en.  He established his kach.  The word established is a pretty powerful word.  It is the word kun which means to be firmly planted, secured, fixed, and unmovable. 

 Note how he ends this verse, His kingdom ruleth over all.  I believe that is a direct slam against the Akkadian god Su’en.  God’s kingdom does not just rule over the earth, but also in the heavens where the pagan gods were believed to be ruling.  God’s rule is the ultimate rule; He is over even the Akkadian gods of Su’en, his wife Ishtar, and their children.   The word for rule is malek which has a wide range of meanings from king to royalty, but in this context, I believe one of its primary renderings would fit sovereign power.   

Jehovah is the sovereign power which means He is just not some other God coming down the pike; this is the ultimate and the most powerful God of the universe.  To think that this sovereign God over any other gods has a personal relationship with you and me.  He moves through time to be omnipresent which means He is spending every moment, every second 24/7 with each one of us having only you and you alone on his mind.  The Assyrians could only dream of such a God as that, but he was their god also and there were those outside the Hebrew camp who recognized it and submitted to Him.   

Why would we not want to submit to such as God as that?

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